Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I always wonder how soon the players would start making a "mark" in any MW campaign. It starts out small an alliance here or investment here. In the current campaign with Dwayne of Gamer's Closet, Tim of Gothridge Manor, and the Rusty Battle Axe, they took their first step by buying a house in Viridistan.

The main adventure was an adaptation using the Creature of Rhyl from Dragon #55. It was presented as the underground chamber underneath the Circle of Hwath. The twist I added was that the Dragon of the module was captured by a full blood Viridian, Astylis, and enslaved. For those you have the Majestic Wilderland it was a copper dragon. One of those dragon that betrayed their oath in protecting the Crystals in the maelstorm that forms the entrance to the Abyss where the demons are imprisoned. Unlike the Black Dragons, the copper dragons are not evil but are hedonistic and mainly out for themselves.

So the dungeon was cleared and the party wound up in Viridistan with a fair amount of cash. It came out to several dozen gold crowns worth 32 gp of regular D&D coinage. Dwayne playing the Elf Eoleander (you guess is as good as mine as to how to pronounce it) convinced the rest of the party to buy a house. After looking at the treasure a budge of 45 crowns was set or 1,440 gp. After consulting my Harn Real Estate article I figure they can buy a max of a 50 by 50 two story building.

Currently in my campaign the year is 4452 BCCC, 16 years after the events in the MW Supplement. In that time a group of player characters overthrew the Set led alliance described in the supplement and formed the Council of Viridistan. They allied themselves with the Elves of Elsenwood and Smyrsis to form an alliance for good in the Viridistan Civil War. In the last decade the council has put in a lot of adventure friendly laws to spur the economy that was wrecked in the death of the Emperor and the overthrow of the Set Alliance. Unknowingly this benefited the party by making it real easy for them to buy a house in Viridistan. In addition they already gained tax free status for a year because of them finding Astylis' head in the dungeon of Hwath. Because of the housing laws they gain another year free of property tax (but now any other city tax).

So last week I picked out six houses they could afford with 45 crowns.

This house is near Swordsmen Sward and had only residence surrounding it.

This one is on Artisan's Lane and had several potters, a Rug and Tapestry shop, and in the back a Tavern known as the Beanery that sell nothing but beans; Bean Salad, Bean Soup, Bread, Butter, and Bean Jam.

Then another house betwen Usurer Alley and Guildhall Street. It was next to two ropemakers.Another on Usurer's Alley with only residences around it. It has a back entrance.

Finally the one on Scholar Street with a back entrance as well. It next to the Sage School of Ancient Verities, and across the street are a Scribe and a Seal maker. This is the house they bought.

Bat in the Attic Games

How to make a Sandbox

The Old School Renaissance

To me the Old School Renaissance is not about playing a particular set of rules in a particular way, the dungeon crawl. It is about going back to the roots of our hobby and seeing what we could do differently. What avenues were not explored because of the commercial and personal interests of the game designers of the time.

What are RPGs?

A game where the players play individual characters interacting with a setting with their actions adjudicated by a human referee.

Rules are an aide to help the referee adjudicate actions and to help the players interact with the setting.

Dice are used to inject uncertainty which make a tabletop RPG campaign more interesting than "Let's Pretend".

The only thing a player needs to do to roleplay a character is to act if he or she was really there in the setting in that situation.